LinkedIn Exec Says This Simple Tactic Will Make You A Better Closer

Memos became emails. Mainframes became laptops. Rolodexes became CRM systems. Remember when salespeople used to make 100 calls a day or they’d be fired? Collaboration implied cooperation, and mobile referred to hustling. If you were social you threw a lot of parties.

It used to be so much easier 25 years ago. Or maybe not.

I remember pressing 1 for English and 2 for Spanish, and long hold times before talking to a salesperson that kept me on the phone three hours longer than necessary. I remember the obligatory follow up call to ensure my order was processed and shipped to the right location. I remember learning about new industry innovations from trade shows.

If you’re wondering what’s changed, you’ll find the answers in a recent LinkedIn survey conducted with over a thousand sales professionals. You’ll be surprised to learn that 70% of salespeople have adopted social selling into some aspect of their sales process. Of those, millennials are the highest adopters of social selling, but older, more seasoned sales professionals are closing a higher percent of deals.

Most telling, the survey revealed that the top performing salespeople are using LinkedIn to find “intent signals.” Intent signals are subtle profile changes like job changes or hiring increases at companies the salesperson is targeting. The survey also discovered that top sales performers spend 25% more time researching their prospects than average performers.

To go deeper, LinkedIn’s Head of Marketing for Sales Solutions Justin Schriber and I had a 20 minute discussion on the survey. If you're involved in sales, you’re going to want to see this:

Later, I asked Jack Kosakowski, Global Head of Creation Agency about his thoughts on the interview. This is what he told me:

"Schriber provides some powerful data around the success sales reps are having infusing social into their sales process and the impact it is having on the bottom line. He even breaks down the different social channels and how they can be used for different industries. The top sales professionals have to understand where their buyers live and have a strategy that integrates all of those channels into their daily communication process. Schriber’s analysis just proves what we we’ve been telling sales people for years, that the future of sales is all about engaging proactively with your buyers with high quality content.”

I then asked Kosakowski why some sales people have avoided going all in on social. “The no. 1 reason most sales reps don't see any success with social selling is pretty simple - they get lost in the platforms and have no clear direction around what they are trying to achieve. It's imperative that salespeople use social media strategically by focusing on a limited group of accounts and the contacts in those accounts. Using tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator or Sprout Social will allow sales reps to track the conversations they are having in order to move them offline into the sale process or strengthen conversations they are having with prospects in the sales process."

Finally, Schriber mentioned the difference between Twitter and LinkedIn. I feel Twitter adoption by salespeople is on the rise and it's apparent that buyers aren't shy about engaging in conversations. Foe me, LinkedIn is about credibility around the connection versus the conversation. I've found that the best social selling process is to use content to create conversation which allows me to lead with value versus and selfish ask. To summarize, Twitter and LinkedIn are like peanut butter and jelly. You have to leverage one to start the conversation and then move it over to the other in order to strengthen the relationship."

I provide an insider's view of the modern business world based on my years of experience working as an executive and consultant within the Global 3000. I am the CEO for Fanatics Media, a Digital Marketing Agency, and the author of Socialized!